QB Aaron Rodgers is on the short list of NFL players I truly enjoy watching in practice, in large part because he can put the ball on target, with velocity, from almost any body position. Take the touchdown he threw in Monday night’s practice to TE Andrew Quarless against a blitz from a sideways arm angle with two rushers in his face. It’s one thing to do it in practice when Rodgers knows he won’t be hit on a play like that. But he has shown he’ll do it in games, too. He’s healthy again and still on top of his game at age 30. As long as he stays there, the Packers will have a shot every year.

Speaking of Quarless, he sure looked good Monday night as he works his way back from an injury that sidelined him for minicamp. The Packers re-signed him in March for two years and $3 million. Coach Mike McCarthy’s diverse breed of West Coast offense uses so many multiple tight-end sets the Packers have kept four or even five on the roster in the past. So, if Quarless can stay healthy, there are opportunities to be had even though the Packers used a third-round pick on Richard Rodgers.

Last year’s starting tight end, Jermichael Finley, continues to rehab from a neck injury and remains a free agent. WR James Jones signed with Oakland. WR Greg Jennings left last year for Minnesota. WR Donald Driver is retired. That’s four of Rodgers’ five leading receivers from his 2011 MVP season, with only WR Jordy Nelson remaining. One reason the Packers have overcome that turnover: they train every receiver to play all the spots, providing flexibility to get matchups and play different personnel groups. And the personnel department has done a good job finding guys who can handle the volume.

Losing rookie fifth-round pick WR Jared Abbrederis to a knee injury wasn’t a backbreaker, but it stung. He was having the best camp of the young receivers, and that includes second-round pick WR Davante Adams, who is competing with WR Jarrett Boykin for the No. 3 job behind starters Nelson and WR Randall Cobb.

The Packers know well how vital offensive line depth can be over a long season. Versatile backup Don Barclay’s torn ACL will test that depth.

Another lesson the Packers have learned: Don’t wait until August to admit a mistake with the backup QB job. Rodgers’ broken collarbone last season led to a parade of starters – Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien and Matt Flynn – and none of them were around for camp, during which the Packers cut Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman and even gave Vince Young a look. Flynn – who re-signed in April on a one-year, $1 million deal – is No. 2 right now and Tolzien should be better with an offseason in the offense, too.

(Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

Cobb praised McCarthy for adjustments to the rhythm of camp. “I think he’s becoming more of a player’s coach with our schedule,” Cobb said. “The routine of practice, the way we go about doing it, the way we go about our meeting times and giving us a little bit more time for our bodies to rest and being really on top of it, our nutrition, and bringing in people for every little thing that can help make us better.” Among other things, the Packers hired Adam Korzun as director of performance nutrition and joined the wave of teams implementing GPS technology for injury prevention.

It’s tough to get a read on OLB Julius Peppers, who clearly knows how to – ahem – pace himself during camp. But McCarthy told me all indications are he’s a great fit. It should help Peppers that the Packers have no intention of playing him 800-plus snaps like he did last season in Chicago. “He played a lot of football. And he’s still impactful,” McCarthy said. “You can look at every game, but you always look at the games you played against each other. The guy’s had an impact play in every game that we’ve competed against him. You have to know where he is. You’re foolish not to.”

I talked to OLB Clay Matthews briefly in the locker room and he said his twice-broken thumb is OK. The scar from the tendon-transfer surgery Matthews underwent in December was pretty gnarly when I saw it back in April. But if the thumb is stable and Matthews can avoid the hamstring issues he’s had in the past – a focus of his work with trainer Ryan Capretta’s team in Los Angeles during the offseason – his pass-rush presence should be a huge boon to a Packers defense that needs it.

Top draft pick S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix hadn’t gotten a ton of reps with the starters until S Morgan Burnett suffered an oblique strain Monday night. But Clinton-Dix is a guy the Packers expect will show up once the preseason games begin. One below-radar player to watch in that group: Sean Richardson, who had a full offseason to prepare after a neck injury in November 2012 limited his work a year ago. “He’s better and he’s a guy that he’s definitely stood out throughout camp consistently,” McCarthy said.

Former Packers GM Ron Wolf was on hand for Tuesday’s practice alongside his son, Eliot, the team’s director of pro personnel, whose name that figures to come up more and more in discussions for GM jobs elsewhere over the next few years. It won’t happen anytime soon in Green Bay, with GM Ted Thompson signing a new deal last week. McCarthy’s new deal is next and is considered inevitable.

Let’s not overlook this detail in the timeline Packers chairman emeritus Bob Harlan laid out in Monday’s Brett Favre jersey retirement/hall of fame induction news: Harlan called Favre with the idea before Thanksgiving. Favre has earned his reputation for letting news slip in the past. So, when Harlan told me Favre kept it quiet for over eight months before confirming it on his website Sunday night, I was shocked. “So was I,” Harlan said with a laugh. “I turn on the TV (Monday) morning at 6 o’clock, he’s the first guy I see telling the whole story. I thought, ‘Well, call off that press conference.’”

Lambeau Field keeps getting bigger and better, but there’s still something quaint about Packers training camp. No other NFL community is so uniquely centered around its team and that’s evident the moment you get within a mile of the stadium.

Next stop: St. Louis for the Rams’ preseason opener Friday against the New Orleans Saints.